Clothes worn by the late Queen Elizabeth will be on show at a major exhibition at Buckingham Palace in London next year, the Royal Collection Trust has announced.
The monarch’s official residence will stage the show featuring around 200 items covering multiple decades of her life from childhood onwards. It’s said to be the largest exhibition of her clothing ever.
2026 is the centenary of the late Queen’s birth and Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will open next spring.
Pieces on show will include her intricate Norman Hartnell wedding dress, made in 1947 by Norman Hartnell and her coronation dress, both featuring heavily symbolic embroidery. Another wedding piece — a silver lamé and tulle bridesmaid’s dress she wore in 1934 before it was ever known that she would one day become Queen — will also be one of the exhibits.
More everyday pieces will be included such as headscarves and riding jackets, as well as more relaxed printed eveningwear from the 1970s. But the biggest attention will be paid to the occasion dresses worn for state banquets and special events.
The exhibition’s curator Caroline de Guitaut talked of how the exhibits will illustrate “the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment”. That soft power included a green and white dress in Pakistan’s national colours made for a 1961 state visit there.
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